By Brady Betzel
Even a pandemic can’t stop Adobe from updating its Creative Cloud apps. This year’s Adobe Max is even more special because for the first time it is completely free! From the famed writer/director/powerhouse Ava DuVernay to director Taika Waititi to one of my favorite Twitter follows, stop-motion animator Kevin Parry (@kevinbparry), Adobe has a very impressive lineup of speakers for 2020.
Illustrator on the iPad
Whether you are a student looking for tips and inspiration or a seasoned professional looking at what the future holds, Adobe Max 2020, running from October 20-22, features a can’t-miss lineup. Make sure to find the schedule of speakers from around the world to make your virtual schedule.
While I am focusing on the latest video updates to Adobe’s Creative Cloud apps, there are plenty of other updates to keep track of — from Adobe Photoshop’s new automatic Sky Replacement to Illustrator on the iPad. You can find out more here.
What’s New?
Adobe Rush is introducing some improvements such as additional transitions, graphics, a pan-and-zoom function on all platforms and in-app, royalty-free audio from Splice. Adobe is taking content identification to a new level with its Content Authenticity Initiative, which began last year and is being improved now. Essentially, the Content Authenticity Initiative allows content creators to bake in metadata that will show whether an image has been manipulated — even the layers that have been composited on altered images.
Adobe Rush
Initially, you will be able to see this new layer of metadata in Behance; alternatively, there will be an opportunity for Photoshop and Behance users to beta-test more in-depth functionality.
Adobe Premiere Pro and Rec. 2100 PQ Color Space
Premiere Pro is what I am interested in most this year. We have seen usable Premiere HDR workflows introduced recently, but today Adobe has added support for Rec. 2100 PQ color space. This is a big deal for HDR users because many networks require color correcting in a Rec. 2020 or Rec. 2100 PQ color space. For a more in-depth breakdown of using HDR inside of Premiere (prior to this update), check out this story from Mike McCarthy, who is a very smart post pro and consultant. He has worked in Adobe Premiere for a long time.
HDR
ARRI ProRes files now can use the color management feature with embedded LUTs. ProRes raw import is now supported for Windows users on both Intel and AMD GPUs. ProRes raw to Log color space is now available across Premiere, After Effects and Media Encoder products. There is less wait time when hitting the spacebar with faster audio pre-roll in Premiere. And last but not least, new hardware decoding features for AMD and Nvidia GPUs on Windows help to speed up editors who still work with raw H.264 and HEVC formats.
With all those new, let’s call them “technical” improvements, the Adobe video ecosystem is starting to tighten up its professional workflows. I’ll be honest and say that Premiere offline workflows are not the easiest. If you are going from Premiere to Resolve or another color correcting app, there are some hoops to jump through. Not that it can’t be done, but to Adobe’s credit, Premiere allows you to throw almost anything in a sequence and have it work. But with Adobe incorporating professional-level HDR working color spaces, you have one more reason why you can stay inside of the Adobe ecosystem from start to finish. Once Adobe brings back a color correction application or toolset similar to what SpeedGrade was, they will be a force to battle other professional apps.
Transcript View
Speech-to-Text in Premiere
But the standout updates for Premiere at Max 2020 are the speech-to-text feature in Premiere Pro (early access) and the new captions workflow (public beta). First up is speech to text, which you will be familiar with if you’ve worked with other Premiere speech-to-text plugins, like Digital Anarchy’s Transcriptive. The file/portion of the timeline you would like transcribed will be uploaded to the cloud and transcribed using Adobe Sensei technology. From there you can use the transcript to create captions, which are now fully editable on the timeline using tools like trimming and blade tools.
When I was briefed on this new function, I was really excited because transcription and captions are difficult to work with in most NLEs. Avid has an incredible and widely used transcription utility called ScriptSync, and there is nothing like it. Seeing Adobe invest in this type of tool is great. While it’s not exactly the same as ScriptSync, by automating the transcription, it takes the idea a step further. The idea of being able to transcribe your videos within minutes is incredible. For explainer videos or other Instagram-like videos, which most people watch without audio, adding a subtitle track is crucial to viewership, and the new speech-to-text feature will be very attractive.
Caption Track
One sticking point for me with speech to text is whether cloud transcription will be included with your Creative Cloud subscription or sold as a separate service? Also, what type of security will be used to protect the content? I asked Adobe whether speech to text will be a paid add-on, and the answer was, “We cannot comment on that at this time.” To me that means they are either going to charge for it, much like other transcription services do (and typically per minute), or maybe they will include a limited amount of transcription minutes with your Creative Cloud subscription.
Either way, we will have to wait and see, and the speech-to-text transcription service will be started as a private, invitation-based trial for now. You can apply to be a part of it here.
The awesome-looking captioning workflow is available now in the public beta of Premiere Pro. Let’s hope Adobe makes it as easy as possible and allows for CEA 608/708-compatible files.
Transform Gizmos
After Effects Updates
Adobe After Effects also has some interesting new “technical” feature updates. Available immediately are the improved cameras, 3D transform gizmos and Roto Brush 2.0. The new 3D Ground Plane and Real-Time 3D Draft preview are in the public beta.
The new 3D design-space tools remind me of a 3D modeling app, like Maxon Cinema 4D. Adobe appears to be trying to keep as many motion-graphics designers inside of After Effects as possible by updating its tools to interact more fluidly and by mimicking the 3D apps I mentioned earlier — from faster cameras to a new scale, position and rotate gizmo in the GUI.
AE Virtual Production, Roto Brush 2.0
The beta version of Real-Time 3D Draft preview reeks of influence from popular real-time game designer Unreal Engine. With virtual production becoming a real-time affair (as mind-blowing as it is), it was only a matter of time before Adobe tried to accomplish real-time 3D interactivity, as it has done today.
Roto Brush 2.0
I use Roto Brush a lot. It works great for rotoscoping that isn’t too detailed and doesn’t have a lot of perspective shifts. But the new Roto Brush 2.0 is blowing Version 1 out of the water and is available now. From tighter and faster tracking to adding motion blur and decontaminating edges, Roto Brush 2.0 is a phenomenal tool. If you forgot about the Roto Brush, now is the time to dive back in and see what you are missing.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Adobe seems to have heard users’ requests for more than flash updates. In the last few releases, Adobe has sped up HDR workflows and improved old tools like Roto Brush. I’ve even seen a job posting for someone to help redesign Adobe’s video color-correction toolsets.
With a few specific tweaks, the Adobe Creative Cloud video ecosystem could really fill the needs of many “professional” shared-project-environment workflows. But the latest updates show me that Adobe is in the professional game and looking to tackle not only one-person workflows but also offline/online workflows.
In my opinion, getting the speech-to-text function working with an easy-to-use edit and closed captioning workflow will keep a lot of editors working in Premiere. For some reason, captioning is still a very weird area for video editors. If Adobe can create a tool or workflow in Premiere and/or Media Encoder that makes captioning easy, most editors will continue to keep Premiere Pro around as a Swiss Army knife for post production.
Brady Betzel is an Emmy-nominated online editor at Margarita Mix in Hollywood, working on shows like Life Below Zero and The Shop. He is also a member of the Producers Guild of America. You can email Brady at bradybetzel@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @allbetzroff.
